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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Waldorf Homeschooling - Kindergarten year one (her first day!)

Might that be the longest title yet on this blog of mine? Ha! I thought it only proper to share a glimpse of C's first day of school, too. I didn't take a lot of pictures but they still give you an idea, at least.

Monday was our first official day, and in our weekly kindergarten rhythm that is baking day. Monday has actually always been baking day for us so I thought I would keep that the same. I wanted to ease C into our homeschooling rhythm so we kept the day simple, easy going, and I did my best to focus on keeping my attention on her and out time together (Well, the best I can with a little monkey named Little L on my back!). I think that is the key (for C) to make her truly enjoy our schooling together.

I set up two lambies on the children's side of the kitchen and we began our day with an opening verse (with hand movements):

Good morning dear earth,Good morning dear sun,Good morning dear fairies and the flowers every one,Good morning dear beasts and the birds in the trees,Good morning to you and good morning to me.

Then I put on my apron and C put on her special school apron (It was an apron we made together in parent/child class last year. She'll only use that one on our school days to keep it special), and we set up to bake. We decided on a loaf of bread. I gathered the ingredients and told C how much we needed of each but I let her make it all on her own. She was thrilled over that, smiling the whole time as she worked.She even cut up zucchinis for our dinner exclaiming "I am so glad I am homeschooling, Mama! It's lots of fun." I let out a big sigh of relief over that statement.

Blow wind, blowAnd go mill, goThat the baker may take itAnd into bread make itTo bring us a loafIn the mornTo bring us a loaf in the morn.

We cleaned up together as the dough was rising and I did a story for her (I plan on doing more elaborate puppet shows in the coming weeks, once I have things planned out a bit better), followed by lunch and a closing verse. By then it was time to go pick up K. I realized I will need to have better time management skills if I am to fit more into our daily rhythm for school. But this was just our first day so I'm trying not to be too hard on myself. Then again, Waldorf kindergartens are modeled after home life so I don't want to overdo it and cram too much into one day.

picture by K!

K was more excited to hear about C's first day of school than to tell us how her day went. C showed off her bread and K, being the proud big sister that she is, snapped a picture to "remember C's accomplishment".(Yes, we still have our beeswax leaves from last Autumn hanging up...)

Welcome Friends

Thank you for joining me here. My name is Nicole Spring AKA wife, Waldorf homeschooling Mama to four sweet little ones, homemaker of the radical kind, knitter, cook, seamstress, student of life as well as my children, crafter, girl of all trades... and always with a camera in hand to document our days so we may look back at these glorious yet exhausting times.

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“Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart purpose and direction to their lives. The need for imagination, a sense of truth and a feeling of responsibility-these three forces are the very nerve of education." – Rudolf Steiner